Animal Control
by Perygl Drychiolaeth
Summary: Cute and fluffy peril! Amity Park has been engulfed in a new pet craze, but these animals are not all that meets the eye.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Well, here I go. Afull length fan fiction. Yes, I know that myOC villain is about as evil as the box ghost and has a flatter personality than a Mary-Sue, but I tried._

**Disclaimer: Butch Hartman created Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom and all titles, logos, etc. are property of Viacom Inc.**

The night lay calmly over Amity Park. Many silvery dots, the stars, speckled the navy blue night sky. The city was softly lit by a mixture of amber street lights, tiny slivers of light from some windows, pale moon light, and fluorescent neon signs that advertised many things from popular night clubs to the newest brand of cola scented oven cleaner.

With a **FWAM!**, Danny Phantom was knocked into the air by the tail of the enormous ghost ferret.

The ferret's fur was a luminous white that gave off a hint of a green aura; its brightness made Danny squint and scrunch his eyes as he attempted to fight it. The ferret had beady red eyes that glinted with malice as it watched Danny dodge its onslaught. It swiftly moved; the long body of the ferret waved like a snake's slithers. Its footsteps were light, like it was walking two inches above the ground.

Danny shook off the daze imposed by the flick of the tail and focused as best he could upon the ferret. Danny made a noise that seemed to be a cross between a groan and a sigh.

The ferret lazily swatted Danny with a vast paw, getting bored of the black-and-white squeaky toy that floated in the air. It opened its furry mouth and tried to clamp down on the squeaky toy, hoping to create a massive squeak.

Danny slipped away from the bite of the ferret, contorting his body away from the large teeth. He flew in circles around the ferret's head a few times and landed behind it, next to his two friends.

The ferret staggered around drunkenly; it dizzily tried to keep its gaze on Danny. The ferret's feet stomped heavily down on the ground as it tried to regain its bearings. Danny saw his chance

"Thermos, please," Danny demanded, holding his hand out in front of Sam. Sam handed the white and green cylindrical device over to Danny.

"Say goodnight, weird weasel," Danny sternly said as a pinpoint of sky blue light formed inside the Fenton Thermos and steadily expanded into an orb of white light.

"Uh, Danny. I think it's a ferret," Sam interrupted.

"A male ferret," Tucker added.

"Ferret fiend," Danny corrected.

The Fenton thermos chose that moment to erupt in a beam of bluish light that swallowed the ferret quickly into the main body of the thermos. Once the device had finished engulfing the white blur that was the ferret, Danny slipped the cup snugly over the swallowing hole.

"How many ghosts have I fought tonight?" Danny asked rhetorically.

"Well, let's see..." Tucker pulled out his PDA and slipped the special pen away from the side. He prodded the screen a few times with the point, muttering in the process. "Twenty three," Tucker answered. He turned the screen so Danny and Sam could see the list of ghosts he had made.

"And they're all in the thermos, now," Danny said, a slight amount of pride mixing into his voice.

"You keep a list of the ghosts Danny has fought?" Sam raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Sure, it's a great way to keep track of his improvements," Tucker replied.

A wisp of blue mist floated out of Danny's mouth as a slow chill blanketed the three friends. An odd breath, that was cold yet damp, gently surrounded Danny's neck.

Danny turned around to see a ghost dog, with the same colourings as the ferret, standing behind them. The ghost dog was twice the size of the ferret. Its features gave it the youth of a puppy but it snarled and bared its teeth with the ferocity of an older dog.

"Tucker, you might want to add another ghost dog to your list." Danny floated up, so he was eye level with the dog. "I just wish I knew where all these ghost animals are coming from."  
-----  
Meanwhile, in the shadier parts of Amity Park (named because of the clouds that constantly hung over it), outside of a derelict house, vague flashes of light escaped through the wooden planks of one of the many boarded up windows.

Inside, a shadowy figure was busy. Long boards of flashing, beeping and humming consoles lined the walls of the room, in which the shadowy figure worked solitarily. Caged animals of many species were scattered around the room's cramped interior. Three large glass panels created a cube-shaped enclosed area in one corner. Inside the glass was a small ghost cat. It had similar red eyes, white fur and green aura to the dog and the ferret.

The figure silently moved from console to console, pressing random buttons until he came to rest in front of one. The figure carefully lifted what seemed to be its hair away from its head, but seemed to be more like a wisp of shadow, and plucked the 'hair' from its head.

The figure turned back to the console and picked up a hollow glass cylinder which had hemispherical ends. The figure split it at the middle with a sucking pop, slipped the 'hair' inside the tube and closed the tube again. The figure then slipped the tube into an accurately sized hole in the console and pressed a sequence of buttons.

The cat in the contained area was instantly surrounded by twin swirls of shadow that absorbed it into their pitch black depths. The shadows cleared, unveiling a cat with a similar appearance to the shadowy figure. The newly shadowy cat arched its back and quietly hissed.

The figure removed the tube of 'hair' and pressed another sequence of buttons. The shadows broke away from the cat. All of a sudden, the cat started to grow. A snarling, hissing shadow, that was almost a reflection of the large cat, was cast on the wall behind it.

The figure gave a menacing smile and uttered one word in a deep, raspy whisper. "Marvellous."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning was a Sunday and, keeping with a tradition that was many years old, Danny, Sam and Tucker buzzed through the town on their motorized scooters, making their way to the park. At that moment in time, they were going through small streets that housed many small shops and privately owned businesses.

"...then the animals just shrank down to a manageable size," Danny said, explaining to his friends what had happened after both of them had left due to phone calls from their parents, asking them to return home. "So I just-"

"Woah. Look at that," Tucker said, pointing with one hand to a large crowd forming in front of a shop.

"It's a crowd, Tucker. It's not like you've never seen one before," Sam said dryly.

Tucker ignored Sam's comment and turned his scooter towards the crowd. Also ignoring Sam's comment, Danny trailed after Tucker. After a second, Sam gave a small sigh and followed.

The three friends pulled to a screeching halt near to the growing crowd. Each demounted their scooter and pulled off their helmet.

The crowd was gathering around a small shop called "Paws and Claws". The crowd consisted mainly of students; many of them attended Casper High. Danny, Sam and Tucker instantly recognised some of their classmates in the crowd.

"Look, there's Paulina," Danny said, pointing Paulina, who was holding a poodle puppy that looked almost exactly like her

"And it looks like she's carrying a miniature version of herself," Tucker continued.

"That's not a mini-Paulina, that's a puppy," Sam said, but quickly changed her mind to insult Paulina. "No, wait it _is_ a mini-Paulina."

A man appeared at the front of the crowd. He had black hair and dark grey eyes. He was wearing baggy dark green trousers, a pale grey shirt, shiny black shoes and, as if this outfit wasn't bad enough, a bright white apron. He was talking to a girl with blonde hair and green eyes that was holding an almost identical yellow cat.

"Hey Fen-toast," a familiar voice, that made the three friends jump, called.

"Oh no," Danny grumbled. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped into view. The boy was the same age as Danny but twice the size of him. "Dash."

"Have you met my new dog, Fenton?" Dash asked, yanking the leash that he firmly gripped forward. A dog that, once again, looked like its owner stumbled into view. The dog was quite muscular and it was wearing the same maniacal grin as its owner.

"I don't believe I have met your dog," Danny said.

"His name's Spike and he's much tougher than-" Dash paused to give a mocking smile. "-you." With that, Spike started to growl.

Danny withdrew his body away from the reach of Spike. "And that's supposed to mean?" Danny asked, slightly intimidated by the appearance of the gigantic dog.

"You're so weak even a dog could beat you up!" Dash laughed and walked away.

Danny slouched dejectedly. "Pay no attention, Danny," Sam said, trying to comfort him.  
-----  
The next morning, Danny and Jazz were sitting in the kitchen, minding their own business, when their parents burst up from the lab.

"Danny!" Jack said excitedly, rushing to Danny's side. "Wait until you see the latest innovation in Fenton ghost hunting technology."

Maddie appeared beside him. "It's called the Fenton Thermograph!" Maddie said, holding up the invention.

The Fenton Thermograph was a small metal rod that seemed to have a green tinge to it, attached by a thin, plastic coated wire to the main part of the invention. The main part of the invention was a small control with a screen and three buttons.

"It can detect a drop in the temperature and warn us if a ghost is near. The metal rod has been treated with ectoplasm to pick up the smallest ghost-related change in temperature," Jack said. Maddie switched the invention on. "And it displays the temperature over a few hours in a graph."

"Hm. That's funny," Maddie said, waving the rod around.

"What's funny?" Jack asked.

"It shows a temperature drop around Danny." Maddie held the rod next to Danny and showed the screen to Jack.

Danny panicked. "Would you look at the time? It's time for school." Danny sped off, leaving only a cloud of dust and a wobbling bowl behind.

"If he can move that fast, he should try out for track," Jack said with a large smile.

-----

As usual, Danny walked to school with Sam and Tucker. As soon as they got there, all three gasped. Banners that were strung to the front of the school declared (in red and blue writing) that it was 'Pet Week' at Casper high.

"Why doesn't this sound right?" Tucker asked.

"It sounds fine to me," Sam said. "Think about it. He's a quarterback on the football team. He can convince Mr. Lancer to give him straight A's on his report card if he wants to. And, ever since Mr. Lancer got the teacher's lounge an all-meat lunch buffet, he's been on the principal's good side."

"Good point, Sam," Danny agreed.

"But these animals seem to have something funny about them. They even look like their owners. Just look at Paulina's dog," Tucker said, sounding slightly frightened.

"Tucker, how many times do I have to tell you," Sam said. "That's not her dog – it's her daughter."

"Don't you think you're a little too harsh on Paulina sometimes, Sam?" Danny asked, staring at Paulina; she was parading around with her new dog, showing it off to everyone she saw, including the unpopular students.

Before Sam could answer, Paulina noticed Danny. "Hey, Danny! Check out my new dog. Her name is Fluffy," she said in an overly-accented voice, guiding a poodle puppy in front of her with the pink leash that was attached to Fluffy's collar.

Paulina scooped up Fluffy and held her out so Danny could get a closer look. The puppy had a thin coating of light brown fur. It also had long ears covered in coal black fur and puffs of the coal black fur around the tip of its tail, its neck and its hind legs.

Danny stared at Fluffy for a minute. Fluffy gave a high-pitched squeaky bark that snapped Danny out of the trance.

"Well I guess I'll see you later, Danny," Paulina said and strutted off to show the rest of the school her new dog.

"I'd hate to live next to her – Fluffy's bark is annoying," Tucker commented.

"And yet, the owner is _still_ more annoying than the dog," Sam retorted.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: I forgot to mention that this story takes place between 13 and PE._

-----

That night, a wave of ghoulish animals was unleashed upon Amity Park. They caused no damage, though. They were only after one thing.

The animals found their way into houses by any means possible. Two shadowy animals managed to find their way in to the house with the large sign that said "Fenton works".

A lizard made his way into a room that was vaguely pink in the darkness. The lizard could see a bed. A ginger-haired girl was asleep in the darkness. Her hair was spread out across the pillow.

This was going to be easier than he had thought.

The lizard slithered silently along the walls, near the ceiling. He moved across the corner with ease and came to the head of the bed. He stepped on to the varnished wooden headboard and slipped slightly. Scrambling to regain control, the lizard ended up sliding down the curved headboard and landing on the pillow.

Looking up, the lizard suddenly found himself face-to-face with the girl. She murmured something in her sleep and turned over, leaving the lizard face-to-face with what he had wanted all along; the hair.

The lizard clamped his tiny jaws down on a strand of the orange hair and gently eased it away from the girl. That would be enough. For now.

The lizard climbed down from the bed and trekked across the fluffy carpet until he came to the wall. Making sure he had the hair in a firm grip, the lizard clambered up the wall towards the window. After he had safely exited through the window, he made his way back to his master.  
-----  
The other animal was a cat who found her way through the other open window. Unfortunately, she was a little clumsier in her entrance. Jumping through the window, she managed to collide nose-first with some shelves. Hissing softly and twitching her nose in pain, the cat turned around and noticed the black-haired boy lying in the bed.

This wasn't going to be too hard.

The cat padded softly on all four paws across the carpet to the bed. Digging her claws into the blanket, she managed to hoist herself up to the boy. Avoiding the boy's outstretched limbs, she carefully made her way to his head.

The cat relaxed the muscles in her left paw, allowing her claws to slip out with ease. With a small swipe at the boy's head, three short hairs had been cut. She cautiously gathered up the three hairs using her mouth.

In a sudden burst of energy, the boy rolled over in his sleep. The cat leapt out of his way just in time to see his elbow spear the point where she would have been, had she not leapt out of the way.

Bristling her fur and arching her back slightly, the cat turned and jumped up to the windowsill. With one last shimmering red-eyed glance to the boy, she jumped out of the window. Cats always land on their feet. Securing her grip on the hair, she turned and ran back to her master.

He was going to be pleased.

-----

Many of the animals had finished for the night and were either making their way back or were already there. One rabbit was still out, though. After many unsuccessful tries the rabbit thought, once again, that he had found the right house.

A wide-open window always made getting in easier. Even if it wasn't on the ground floor.

The dark rabbit landed on the pale green carpet, narrowly avoiding a stray dirty sock. Flinching in disgust, the rabbit continued on his hopping trek across the carpet, towards the bed. Not including the one dirty sock, the carpet was clean and uncluttered.

Standing on all four paws, the rabbit pushed back on his powerful hind legs and bounded on to the bed. The springy mattress bounced the rabbit slightly and the blanket cushioned his fall.

Asleep in the bed was a boy wearing yellow pyjamas and a red beret. He was lost in a dream, oblivious to everything that was going on in the outside world.

_Tucker was standing on an island. An island that didn't seem to have seen people for a while – the sand hat been shaped smoothly by the sea and wind and the topmost grains had formed a stiff yet fragile layer. A salty sea breeze refreshingly wafted over him from the side. A row of mechanical palm trees lined the horizon, swaying in the direction of the breeze. Nearby, a buffet table was neatly laid out with large metal containers filled with meat._

Ignoring the buffet table for now, Tucker wandered towards the palm trees, wondering if they had any function at all. Underfoot, the crisp, unspoiled sand layer that he stepped on cracked and broke as it allowed his feet to sink slightly. As he lifted each foot up, trickles of sand ran like tiny rivers in the small, shallow ditches that his feet left.

The palm tree towered at least two feet over Tucker. The long trunk was made of wide rings of metal bolted together. Four long sheets of metal stretched away from the top of the trunk, casting claw-like shadows over the sandy landscape. The breeze hit Tucker's back and the palm tree gave a screeching creak as it swayed away from him.

Tucker reached out to the palm tree, delicately touching it with the tips of his fingers, as if it were as fragile as the crusty layer of sand and tucker could break it with an overly powerful touch. Icy chills ran through his fingers. It felt odd; it was freezing, like it had just come out of the freezer. Even though it had spent all day in the blazingly low sun's heat. Tucker touched it again. The same icy coolness ran into his fingers again. But this time, he also felt something else. It was almost... fluffy.

The boy reached out to the rabbit, tenderly touching the black fur, then quickly withdrawing his touch. The rabbit stayed still, trying not to wake the boy. He calmed and rolled over, throwing the rabbit off the bed.

_Tucker turned sharply away from the palm tree. His stomach roared in protest of starvation. Remembering the buffet table, he dashed over the sand, letting his stomach lead the way. Small amounts of sand flicked up from behind his shoes with each rushed step._

The long white cloth that was draped over the table gleamed brightly in the sunlight. Lifting off the lid of a large dish, Tucker sniffed the air appreciatively. He licked his lips as he saw what was waiting to be devoured inside the dish.

A knife and fork appeared in Tucker's hands. "Mmm – T_-bone steaks."_

The ground started to rumble beneath the table, shaking the dishes and containers. Instinctively, Tucker took a few steps back.

The rabbit launched himself once again on to the bed, landing clumsily on the mattress, causing every spring inside it to shudder.

_The buffet table started to sink into the ground. Tucker watched as the delicious meal slipped through the sand, only jumping mouth-first to grab it at the last second._

Spitting out litres of sand, Tucker stood up and brushed himself down. "That's the last time I trust a buffet table."

While desperately trying to cling on while the boy thrashed about, the rabbit found himself being catapulted to the head of the bed.

_Tucker turned around, hoping to continue on and find another buffet table. Instead of moving, he stood rooted to the spot. In front of him was a large green dinosaur standing on two legs. It was no ordinary dinosaur, though. It had a large T-bone steak for a body. Its scales shimmered with a magnificent grey/green in the glaring sunlight._

Tucker murmured the name of the creature. "T-osteosaurus."

The creature took a step forward, leaving vast footprints in the sand.

Hadro_T-osteosaurus_,_ Tucker's mind corrected._

The hadroT-osteosaurus regarded Tucker with two beady eyes for a moment before snorting and shifting its feet. It let out a low-pitched deafening roar before taking a claw and swiping at Tucker. Tucker ducked, but still managed to get his beret knocked off.

The rabbit landed on the mattress with a low, resounding creak. He looked up and noticed he was right next to the boy's ear. The boy didn't seem to be stirring.

The rabbit grabbed the boy's beret with both front paws and snatched it away from the boy's head. The boy started to stir and wake.

_Tucker's beret vanished into thin air. The hadroT-osteosaurus also dissolved from view. With a loud pop, the mechanical palm trees disappeared. The ground and sky were sucked away, leaving Tucker in a dark void._

He began to fall through the darkness. The air whistled past his ears and forced his clothes to flap. He was quickly approaching some sort of ground. It was a pale grey square. He was about to hit it when...


	4. Chapter 4

Tucker awoke with a jump, sending the rabbit flying down to the bottom of the bed. It felt as if Tucker had fallen into his own bed. Tucker sat up and looked around the room. Even though he didn't have his glasses on, he could fairly clearly see something sitting on the end of his bed.

Tucker drew a deep breath and let out a loud whimper. He locked his pale green eyes with the narrow blood red eyes of the rabbit that nervously clutched his beret.

The rabbit surveyed the now conscious human boy. There was no way that he was going to get a sample from the boy; his hair was too short, even for the sharpest razor-like claws of a cat. His only chance would be to slip out of the window. Something in the boy's eyes told the rabbit he wasn't going to be able to get out very easily.

Tucker gradually pulled his legs away from the creature that seemed to be stealing his beret. Lifting the top of the pine green blanket up, he pulled his knees to his chest. He defensively curved his arms around his knees, still clutching the blanket with white-knuckled hands.

Whimpering slightly with the residual fear and shock, Tucker carefully lifted the blanket above his head. As he quickly pulled it down, a ripple of air swept under the blanket like a gentle wave out at sea. In one fluid movement, he sprang out of the side of the bed, lifted the blanket up as he ran along the side of the bed and tossed it over the rabbit. Tucker hesitated for a moment to check that the rabbit was covered before sprinting out of the room, hitting his shoulder against the door frame where not having his glasses on resulted in poor judgement.

The lump in the blanket that was the rabbit scurried to the edge of it. As he emerged his head, his two flexible black ears followed, each taking a turn to flick out from underneath the heavy bedding.

The rabbit looked around the room. There was no sign of the human boy. The rabbit smirked; the boy must have fled. It was true when they said humans were more scared of them than they were of humans.

This was the rabbit's chance to escape. Seizing the moment, the rabbit hopped across the carpet and made his great escape through the same window as the one he had come through.

The rabbit wasn't going back there again. He would warn the others against coming, too. In fact, he was done for the night. Whether his master liked it or not.  
-----  
Five seconds later, Tucker returned to the room brandishing a mop.

"Alright, beret thief, prepare to-" Tucker started to say commandingly.

There was no lump under the blanket. Tucker held up the mop defensively. He narrowed his eyes to focus on the surroundings to find the creature. Vaguely noticing that his glasses were lying on the floor about two feet away from his bedside table, he edged towards them, wary of any movement.

Tucker snatched his semicircular glasses from the ground and, with the skill and ease of an expert, flipped the legs out and slipped the ends of them over his ears. As the room came into focus, Tucker scanned it for any sign of movement.

As soon as Tucker had relaxed, a voice came from the doorway. "Nightmares, sweetie?"

Tucker glanced over his shoulder. His mother was standing in a greyish pink robe that covered her lilac pyjamas. Her purple eyes gazed concernedly at her son.

"You could say that," Tucker answered. He relaxed slightly and gave his mother a small smile. "How did you know?"

She returned the smile. "The whimper was loud enough," she joked. "Have you been sleepwalking, too? Is that how you got the mop?"

"It's not a mop, it's a broo-" Tucker stopped in mid-sentence as he looked down at the 'broom'. "Oh. I must have been sleepwalking."

"Come on, back to bed. I'll take the mop downstairs," Tucker's mother offered.

"Actually, I'll take it back. I need a glass of water after all that screaming." Tucker's smile widened sleepily, reassuring his mother that he was fine.  
-----  
Meanwhile, in the shadier parts of Amity Park, the animals had arrived back. The figure, still disguised in the clinging shadows, was pleased with the jobs that the animals had done. He didn't even notice that one animal was missing.

The figure picked up a lizard. It released the hair sample out of its mouth. Gently setting the lizard down, he examined the hair. He held the hair up to the light. _Orange – natural colour._ He straightened it out. _Very long – probably female._ He pulled slightly harder on each end, allowing it to stretch as far as it could. _Strong – Of about age fifteen or sixteen._

He put the hair sample in a tube and set it down on the side. The figure then repeated the process with the other animals, finally coming to a cat.

Petting the cat gently behind its right ear, he removed the hair from its mouth and examined it. _Black – definitely natural. Quite short – likely male. Very strong – age fourteen or fifteen._

There was something different abut this sample, though. It just felt strange. Like nothing he'd ever seen before. He slipped the hair in a glass tube and sealed it. After slotting the glass tube into a machine, he began tapping wildly on the keyboard that was integrated into it.

A large screen lit up with a long list of the attributes to the hair. He looked down the list excitedly. One attribute caught his eye. He smiled sinisterly.

He could do many things with this sample.

-----

"You two look tired," Sam observed.

She was right – Danny and Tucker _did_ look tired as they arrived at school. Both of them walked at the speed of turtles, dragging their feet along the floor because their bodies did not have the energy to lift their feet very high. Grey bags drooped from under all four weary eyes and Tucker's glasses settled ever-so-slightly askew over his nose.

"Why didn't you call me to help with the ghost?" Sam whispered loudly. Many of the students of Casper High School were too busy in their own affairs to overhear the conversation but she whispered, all the same.

"There wasn't a ghost." Danny explained. "At about midnight last night my parents burst in with the Fenton Thermograph at hand, saying, no, _shouting_ about the small concentration of ectoplasmic energy in my room. Close behind them was Jazz, who chose that moment to burst in and shout at them for interrupting my sleep. After she had got rid of them, she took me downstairs for hot chocolate. As soon as we had finished, the sun was rising. Are the bags under my eyes really that noticeable?"

"They're not bags, they're _suitcases_. What about you?" Sam asked with a funny smile on her face, ready for anything Tucker was going to spurt out.

"A beret stealing shadow creature woke me up," Tucker said, not noticing the confused and slightly scared glances. "It looked like a rabbit."

"Tucker, this is the sort of thing we expect to hear from Danny's parents, not you," Sam said, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"It's true, though! It might even have something to do with the new pet shop that opened."

"Let me guess, an evil ghost has a plot to take over Amity Park using fluffy animals," Danny joked.

"It could happen..." Tucker trailed off, slightly ashamed that even his own best friends hardly believed him.

Sam joined in on joking about Tucker's 'experience'. "If you lived in an alternate dimension where little animals could gain ultimate power with the flip of a switch."


	5. Chapter 5

Little did Sam (or any of the three friends) know that they actually lived in the dimension where little animals could gain power from the flip of a switch and the push of a button or two. These weren't normal animals, though.

The shadowy figure watched the screen which seemed to shimmer in the gloom. Tiny red dots – which represented the animals or at least their trackers – moved in millimetres against the small map background. Most seemed to converge on one point. There were a few dots that weren't in that vicinity but they didn't matter too much.

For now, he focused on the mass of red dots and the map around them. He could test out his plan there. It was in quite an isolated area so if anything were to go drastically wrong, the animals wouldn't be completely lost. He could always go and check up on things personally.

He came to a decision. It would be safe to test out his plan. He frantically started to press glowing and beeping buttons and flipping switches.

When all was done, a smile came to his face. If it worked now, it would work on the whole city.

Three large satellite dishes on the top of the console started to send out strong signals.

-----

It was lunchtime at Casper High. Many of the students were either preening their pets, feeding their pets or feeding themselves.

"So Lancer immediately shouted To Kill a Mockingbird and was the last person to run out of the class, just as the parrot ghost, who had been making fun of me, or at least Danny Phantom, was sucked up into the thermos." Danny said, telling Sam and Tucker all about his ghost-related mishaps that they hadn't been there to witness. "And you guys both saw what happened in biology."

"See what I mean about cruelty to frogs?" Sam questioned, remembering the incident. "The school should have switched to the I Can't Believe it's Not a Frog-Cadaver months ago."

Meanwhile, on the collars of many of the pets, a tiny red light began to flash. Each one could feel it. Every animal struggled free of their owner's grip and ran off in all directions to hide.

"Fluffy, come back!" Paulina loudly whined after her pale brown and black poodle puppy.

It was too late. Fluffy wouldn't come back and neither would any of the other animals. Not until they were done. She dodged around a corner of the school and bounded into a deserted woodland area. She had to stop here. The energy was too powerful.

It surged through her tiny body, causing a bright green aura; she whimpered in fear. Her paws and legs began to enlarge to ten times their normal size. Her fur lost its pale brown colouring and blanched to a bright white. She scrunched her doggy eyes. Her ears stiffened, pointing up in the air, then bent backwards so they pointed to her tail. Her face lost its shape. Her teeth sharpened and grew with her mouth. Finally, her eyes became two little slits of glowing red menace.

This new beast emerged, snarling. Its massive feet thumped loudly on the grassy ground below. The aura had dulled to that of a normal ghost.

-----

Danny Fenton blissfully napped with his head resting on his sandwich, in front of his two friends Tucker, who was also snoozing while his face lay in his lunch, and Sam, who chased a piece of cucumber with a fork around her plate. He shuddered, gave a cold, clammy breath and his head shot up. Stuck to his cheek was a bitten slice of bread.

Danny shot out of his slumbers and flung his head up. "What was that?"

The activity caused the bread to shift on his face. It slowly peeled off and fell, landing with a thumping splat on the rest of his sandwich. Moulded into the slice was the imprint of half of Danny's face.

"Good afternoon, Danny." Sam greeted, slightly drearily. "Exciting dreams?"

Danny turned his head this way and that, trying to find the source. "No. Ghost sense."

Tucker raised his head dreamily. The brown sludge that Tucker had been told was beef casserole dripped down the side of his face (He hadn't chosen the lump of "meat" that bore a slight resemblance to a steak due to what he called "a bad personal experience").

"What's going on?" Tucker asked, looking around. "RABBIT!"

"Rabbits are small, Tucker. You could easily pick it up and remove it by hand," Sam replied, also looking for the ghost.

Tucker's breathing pattern shortened. "Not. This. One."

Ignoring the conversation, Danny continued looking in the opposite direction to the giant white rabbit with red eyes and a slight green aura.

Tucker tuned Danny's head to look at the rabbit. "That's one big bunny," Danny said, astonished that the rabbit was as tall as the trees.

"That means-" Tucker started.

"-it's a ghost." Danny finished.

Many of the other students had noticed the rabbit by now and also stared at it in awe and fright. It stood on its hind legs and took small, gentle bounces to stop earthquakes every time it moved.

One boy, who had light purple hair and was wearing a white T-shirt, a muddy green jacket, trousers to match the jacket and very dark sunglasses, ran out in front of the students shouting, "MONSTER!"

Naturally, pandemonium followed. The students scattered, like lemmings without a leader, not forgetting about their pets, even for a moment. The students looked in every possible hiding place. Danny watched the students for any sign of a blind spot, where he might be able to transform without getting noticed.

"You guys seen anywhere?" His voice was almost frantic.

"There's some trees over there," Sam suggested, pointing to a small woodland of trees at the edge of the school's grounds.

"They'll just have to do." Danny ran off, leaving Sam and Tucker stranded at the lunch table to watch the frightened scramble of students.

Danny agilely dodged through the crowd, ducking under and jumping over stray arms, legs and even a student or two. After squeezing between two students, he burst out to the other side, where there was quite a distance between him and the trees.

He looked back. The other students were too busy running around chaotically to see him. He started to run in the direction of the trees, then broke out into a flat-out sprint.

When he was just a few metres away from his chosen tree, Danny pounced, hands-first, like a cat on a mouse. After landing upside-down on his hands, his legs swung over his body and he pushed away from the ground. Two rings of bright white light that almost looked blue budded at his waist and violently expanded, like an explosion.

The rings ran over him like a scanner over a drawing. One spread towards his head and the other flew to his feet. They revealed his almost identical alter ego: Danny Phantom. His baggy blue jeans, white and red T-shirt and trainers changed into a back lab jumpsuit with silvery white gloves, boots, collar and a thin belt. His coal black hair became a stark white and his icy blue eyes became a vibrant, glowing green.

He flew and landed carefully on a tree branch, one leg bent over and the other stretched out. He stared at the rabbit and the other giant ghost animals that were surrounding the unruly group of scared students.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny carefully observed the animals and the crowd from the relative safety and camouflage of the tree. More animals that had grown to enormous sizes appeared. The crowd of terrified students was frozen in fear.

He reached to his back. As his gloved hand came into contact with the smooth, cool, metal of the base of the Fenton Thermos, he smiled confidently, remembering he had left it strapped there after the ghost frog was removed.

Danny dove off the tree and into the ground, pushing forward with a burning momentum. As the blurry dark brown of the soil and rocks flashed by Danny listened for the booming, thudding sounds of movement above. A sound vaguely like a thundering, rumbling crash pushed down, seeming to shake the underground world around Danny. He pushed up, fists-first, into the bright world that was above ground.

He had come up behind a hissing, snarling, cat. Its tail whipped around wildly as it advanced on the students. Danny watched the pattern that the tail swished around in. He gradually pulled the thermos to his chest and uncapped it.

Danny thrust the thermos to the exact tip of the tail and it activated, sucking the large cat into the vacuum sealed interior. Just as the last of the creature's giant nose disappeared into the thermos with a slight pop, he slipped the cap on, flew up a few feet and became invisible.

The students watched as the blue light faded and the cat went with it. Blinking their vision back, they could see that nothing had been behind the cat.

Danny flew over to the rabbit that Tucker had spotted. He flew to its long ears that towered over its head and grabbed them. The rabbit was just about to bring a paw down on an unfortunate boy that had ventured too close.

The boy looked up at the rabbit's head. Something or someone was floating above its ears.

The rabbit shifted both red eyes to the source of the voice. Danny floated above it. The rabbit took its paw away from its former prey and swatted this black-and-white ear tier.

Danny waited as the paw came closer and tugged out the thermos at the precise moment. The paw bathed in blue light was tugged into the thermos, along with the rest of the rabbit, tied up ears and all.

-----

Mr Lancer stepped outside of the school building to see what was going on. The noise was not going to ruin the first-class dining in the Teacher's lounge. He found himself face-to-giant-pink-nose with a white mouse. He took a deep breath and looked up into the scarlet eyes.

_"Of mice and Men!"_

-----

The shadowy figure watched the screen as the now larger red dots moved in towards the centre of the coordinates. One disappeared. And another.

This wasn't meant to happen! It had earlier when one or two had been out and about but the power setting had been quite high. He had tested the mechanisms at this level in controlled and uncontrolled environments. They had worked fine then. It couldn't just be a power surge. Something else was at play here.

But what _could_ be capable of jamming the signals, possibly making them seem as if they had disappeared right off the face of the Earth?

There was no time to lose thinking about it now. Something wasn't quite right and he couldn't just sit there and think.

He would have to check it out himself.

-----

Danny looked around, panting heavily. He had just finished removing a particularly difficult turtle when a cry reverberated around the school. It was, from what Danny faintly recalled, a book title.

Danny scanned the ground for any sign of him. Sure enough, there was Lancer cowering with arms over his face in front of a giant mouse. He invisibly flew towards the pair. The mouse brought its tail around to whip Lancer out of the way. He saw this and streamlined himself in the air. He rounded the mouse and headed to Lancer.

Lancer peeked out of the arm cocoon that he had bound his eyes in to see the tail just about to hit him. He took another deep breath, shut his eyes and waited for the impact.

It didn't come. Lancer opened his eyes. He was moving, floating, rushing. Something was carrying him. He looked down. He couldn't even see himself, let alone anything that could possibly be carrying him.

Danny swiftly removed Lancer to the safety of a nearby tree branch. He held the thermos up over his shoulder, uncapped it, aimed and threw it at the mouse.

The thermos stuck itself to the mouse and, with blue light lapping at the area where fur joined to metal, the mouse was pulled into the thermos.

-----

The figure watched from the dark depths of the woodland, his red eyes fixed on Danny Phantom. Danny was picking up the thermos which, as he had seen, had just finished off his mouse.

Even though the man had never seen Danny before in his life, something about him seemed familiar. Possibly too familiar.

The man whispered deeply to himself, "There is the problem."

-----

The Fenton Thermos waved around uncontrollably like a deflating balloon, engulfing the oversized mouse. With one final squeak of disapproval at being compressed into such a small space, the mouse was gone. The container then fell hole-down to the ground, abruptly lodging itself into the soft earth.

Danny finally approached the thermos. He firmly gripped the thermos with both hands and gave an almighty tug. Danny slipped, and let go of the now dislodged thermos, sending that through the air and tumbling back on to his back.

Danny got up, brushed the loose earth from his suit and floated over to the thermos. He picked it up and capped it, not noticing the clog of mud inside.

-----

The shadowy figure arrived back at his work station with nothing short of a glower on his face. He had to shut the whole process down quickly before the power seeking ghost could do any more damage to his operation.

He flipped a switch, pressed a few buttons and waited. He watched the screen with a silent impatience. The red dots soon shrunk before his eyes.

He sighed. If that other ghost hadn't interrupted his plot, everything would have run smoothly. Now, if the test run had been successful, he could be planning the real attack on this town. Instead, that ghost had ruined it, and probably would spoil an attempt at the vengeful destruction of the town.

Something wasn't right about that secretive spectre. Usually, one ghost would ignore another's plans. No ghost who knew the extent of his wrath would meddle in a plan he had thought up. That ghost was interfering, and as soon as he could figure out a plan to get rid of the ghost, he would be back on track.

Yet he couldn't shake the feeling he'd met that ghost before. He seemed so familiar; it felt like the shadowy figure actually had met the phantom. Or maybe it was all down to DNA. But he had never collected a ghost's DNA. He hadn't had a sample.

Or maybe it was that strange DNA. Maybe it was some kind of ghost tainted with human. Or human tainted with ghost.

"No, it couldn't be," he denied out loud, trying to stray away from the topic.

His thoughts dragged him back. _It could._

He grabbed a box full of clinking glass tubes which had been sealed at both ends. He slowly opened it. Each tube glinted in the dim light. He smoothly pulled out the tube with the strange DNA. The strands of coal black hair shone in the dim light.

He grinned. "This is it. And I know just what to do with it."

Now all he needed was a plan.

-----

Danny surveyed the scene that was Casper High. Several animals still advanced on the students cowering in fear of them. Danny groaned. It would take him forever to clean this up. He watched a ferocious dog. It thrashed a huge white paw at Paulina. Danny sighed frustratedly, became intangible and sank into the ground.

Invisibly, he came up between the dog and Paulina. Red eyes glared at a close-to-tears Paulina. Large amounts of saliva dripped from between sharp teeth exposed in a growling snarl.

Danny grinned as an idea hit him. He silently drew a deep breath, became visible and yelled, "BOO!"

The dog's scarlet eyes widened in surprise. It took a few steps back before turning around and speeding away to hide, leaving Paulina cowering.

Danny didn't notice but all of the other animals that were left also ran into hiding. He only watched the dog for now. He followed it around a corner of the school, into a deserted, unseen place.

With a deep, quiet growl, the dog halted. It closed its eyes and started to shiver uncontrollably. The long claws on its paws dug into the ground as it clenched them. The growling stopped and it whimpered on a high note and pitch.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny watched in amazement as the dog started to shrink. First, the back legs began to shorten, then the front. The main body and head also changed in proportion to all four legs. The stark white fur became a pale brown and longer, darker puffs of fur grew around the neck, near the hind legs and on the tip of the tail. Its ears that had pointed up dropped down to the side of the head and expanded to rectangles of black fur.

"You don't see that every day," Danny commented and flew over to the shivering poodle. "This is Fluffy – Paulina's dog."

He picked Fluffy up in search of a collar to verify his claims. Sure enough, a perfectly fitted white collar was around Fluffy's neck. A shiny silver tag dangled with Paulina's name and phone number on it.

"I'm _so_ going to take a note of that," Danny said, in reference to the number.

Something else was printed in black on the collar. Danny gently brushed the small amount of Fluffy's fur that partially covered it.

"'Paws and Claws'," Danny read and quickly came to a conclusion. "The new pet shop!"

Danny removed the collar from Fluffy and set her down. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

He allowed himself to become human once again. Fluffy yelped quietly in surprise of the two bright rings sprouting from Danny's middle and zooming over him.

He put the collar into his pocket, scooped up Fluffy and held her close to his chest. She trembled fearfully. He gently tickled the puppy under the chin with his index and middle fingers. She looked up at him with wide, almost grateful, brown eyes then snuggled up to the red oval on his white T-shirt.

Danny smiled and turned around the corner. Many owners looked for their lost pets. He felt a pang of guilt, since he knew where many resided. He carried on towards Paulina.

Danny tapped her on the back. "Paulina, is this your dog?"

She looked up from searching under a lunch table for her puppy. "Fluffy! Where did you find her?"

"She was hiding around a corner."

"She seems to have taken a liking to you."

Danny held Fluffy out for Paulina to take hold of; the puppy had fallen asleep in his arms. Paulina tenderly grasped her around the chest and cradled her as Danny let go.

Fluffy slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She let out a bark of appreciation for Danny. Looking up at Paulina, the puppy shifted uncomfortably in her arms and rested her head softly against her owner. Light puppy snores came from the mass of brown fur in Paulina's arms.

"Well Danny, I guess I'll see you around." Paulina flashed a potentially award-winning smile at him (or at least it seemed award-winning to him), turned and walked off.

"See, I _told_ you the animals were dangerous!"

Danny looked over his shoulder; Tucker and Sam stood behind him. Tucker was now programming something into his PDA.

"Still scared of rabbits, Tucker?"

Tucker seemed to blush. "Not scared; wary."

Sam looked over Tucker's shoulder. "What are you doing on that thing?"

"Making a reminder."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "About what? 'Don't forget to be scared of rabbits'?"

Tucker pulled the PDA out of her view. "No. 'Don't forget: avoid rabbits at all costs'."

Sam rolled her eyes and looked over to Danny. "Everything okay?"

"Not exactly. The pets are transforming into monsters, and the only clue I have is this collar." Danny produced the collar from his pocket.

"'Paws and Claws'? Isn't that the new pet shop?" Tucker questioned.

"Yeah, I think we need to have a look around."

"I can't help tonight," Sam said.

"Why?" Tucker asked suspiciously.

"My Mom wants to take me _shopping_."

"But you like shopping with us."

"You've never been shopping with my Mom."

Both boys looked at her sympathetically. "Oh."

Danny smiled. "Do you think you can drag her into the pet shop?"

"Probably. Why?"

Danny grinned. "I have a plan."

-----

Sam sighed; shopping with her mother was never a fun thing to do, especially when she tried to persuade Sam to at least try something on. About ninety-nine point nine recurring percent of the time, that something was pink. It was almost depressing, even by her standards.

They wouldn't take too long in shopping, mainly because Sam's mother tried to visit every fashionable clothes shop in Amity Park within the space of an hour. Sam had also promised Danny that she would check out Paws and Claws, which she could easily do if she sneaked away from her mother.

Luckily, they were visiting the smaller shops and businesses. The fact that a smaller _Abyss_ (compared to the one found in Amity Park mall) was situated there and, according to her mother, it dealt some of the best merchandise from the company in the city had nothing to do with it.

Yet another lucky coincidence was that _Abyss_ was located a few blocks down from Paws and Claws.

"Mom?" Sam asked.

"Yes," came the reply from inside a rack of clothes.

"I'm... going to have a look around to see if I can find any clothes I like."

Sam's mother didn't even look out from the clothes. "Okay, don't wander off too far."

Sam turned and dashed for the door.

-----

Meanwhile, Danny and Tucker were in the Fenton laboratory.

"Are you sure he'll let us use this, Danny?" Tucker examined the Fenton Thermograph, to which Danny was making 'improvements'.

Danny stuck the last piece of red plastic coated wire down with a small piece of duct tape. "Sure. They've been modifying it all day. If we offer to test it with my improvements, they'll let us. Besides, it works fine, they'll never know-"

"Know what, Danny?" Jack's voice boomed from behind, startling the two boys.

Danny turned around, quickly hiding the Fenton Thermograph behind his back. "Know that-" He hung his head in feigned sadness. "Know that I was down here, making improvements to the Fenton Thermograph." Danny lifted his head up to meet Jack's eyes. He showed his father the invention, which simply had pieces of wire stuck all over it with duct tape. "I was going to test it for you, but I guess you probably won't let us."

"Danny, Danny, Danny. Of course I'll let you test it. All you have to do is ask." Jack put a hand on Danny's shoulders, covering them. "Thanks for improving the Fenton Thermograph for us. You must be a Fenton – nobody else would know how to improve the inventions."

"Thanks Dad!" Danny shouted; he was already halfway up the stairs with Tucker close behind.

-----

Sam looked around the pet shop. It wasn't very busy; only a few people were milling around, examining the animals for sale. The pet care items were located towards the back of the room, nearer to the tills.

The animals were located at the front of the room. Sam stood between the rabbit pen and ferret enclosure. She stared into the ferret enclosure. A couple of ferrets (one white, one brown) were tumbling about on the hay-lined floor. Another drank water from a bottle at the side of the cage.

It was a completely black ferret. Its fur shone smoothly in the light. Sam watched it- _her_ adoringly. She stared back at Sam with two magnificently full lilac eyes.

Sam fell in love with the ferret at the sight. She ran out of the shop, back to _Abyss_ hoping to drag her mother in to buy the creature for her.

-----

In the shadier parts of Amity, Danny Phantom held the Fenton Thermograph and scanned the area for ectoplasmic cold spots. He had scanned the rest of the town (starting with paws and claws) and, according to it, not a single ghost lurked anywhere.

He was about to give up on the thermograph when it started to bleep. He looked at the graph displayed on screen. The line was now red and dropping rapidly.

"I hope this thing is right," Danny muttered to himself before dropping on to the roof of the house that was registered by the Thermograph as 'HAUNTED'.


	8. Chapter 8

Danny crouched stiffly on the roof, staring intently at the Fenton Thermograph. He straightened up, became intangible in an instant and dropped through the dark grey slates of the roof.

He entered a small, crowded room. Numerous cages that contained animals of many breeds and species lay in the centre of the room. Flashing, glowing and beeping computer consoles lined the walls. In one corner, a medium sized glass containment area with a small door had been set up.

Danny observed the scene more carefully. A shadowy figure huddled over a console that lay in a shaded corner, typing furiously on a keyboard, although Danny couldn't exactly see what the figure was trying to achieve.

Danny landed on the floor, his feet creating quiet echoes as they touched down on the hard, cool concrete floor. The shadowy figure turned as the echoes began; Danny could see his scarlet eyes, which seemed like two little menacing slits.

"Who are you?" The deep yet raspy voice came, surprising Danny, causing him to jump.

"I'm Danny-"

The shadowy figure's eyes widened in recognition and a reply came quickly, interrupting Danny. "You're Danny Phantom!" A creepy sense of delight laced through the tone of his deep voice.

The shadowy figure stepped into the light, stealing the shadows that shrouded him. Danny could see just about every detail of the ghost. His eyes, now visible as glowing red dots, stared unnervingly, almost through, Danny.

Danny reached behind his back and pulled off the Fenton Thermos that was hooked into a strap which clung to his upper torso. He carefully moved it around to his front and pulled the cap off.

The shadowy figure froze. He had heard about this thermos. One flip of a switch and his plan would be ruined before he could even say the word "animal". He needed to distract the ghost boy. He reached behind and his hand came up against a smooth, cool metal edge. He allowed his hand to creep along the flat surface of the top until he came to a button. After raising his hand above the hexagonal button, he brought it back down again.

With a clunk and a beep, a row of three cages opened, releasing the shadowy cat, rabbit and dog contained inside. They turned to Danny who quickly slid the Thermos back to its hook on his back and readied himself into a battle position.

He swung his fists up in front of his chest, which he puffed out like a robin. The animals bounded towards him. The black rabbit leapt on to his head and immediately snuggled into his hair.

"Cute. He thinks you hair is a nesting ball," the figure commented.

"He thinks my hair is a what!" Danny had no time to hear the reply, if there ever was one, because the cat had leapt on to his leg and sunk its claws in as far as the sharp appendages would go. Danny began to stagger and stumble, with no way to see where he was going because his hair had flopped down into his eyes thanks to the rabbit.

The dog took Danny's confused staggering as an opportunity to fiercely tackle him, as if they were playing rugby and Danny held the ball. After the dog had knocked Danny back into the containment area, successfully flattening Danny on his back, the animals ran out towards the shadowed figure.  
-----  
Meanwhile, the shadowy figure had been busy, typing rapidly at a console, pausing once to make a comment. He retrieved the list he needed; he hoped the boy was the one. He cast his eyes down the list, scanning it for the greatest chance of success.

The figure turned around. The dog had not yet attacked. He looked at Danny, who stumbled near the containment area. He turned back to the dog and clicked his fingers. The dog turned attentively. The figure gestured towards Danny, balled his left hand into a fist and slammed it into his right hand, which neatly cupped around it.

The dog took these orders and tackled Danny, who fell backwards into the containment area. The figure clicked his fingers once more, this time gaining the attention of all the animals. The figure swept his right hand towards his chest and the animals ran out to hide behind him.

Danny propped himself up on one arm and grabbed the Thermos, which had, amazingly, not been so much as scratched slightly in his fall. He slipped the lid off and aimed it at the figure.

"Say goodbye, Spooks." Danny pressed a button on the side of the Thermos. Nothing happened. Not so much as a coupe of blue sparks came out. Danny looked straight into the Thermos. The mud clog stared straight back at him.

The figure moved from his frozen position and grinned sinisterly. "Well, since this meeting isn't quite working out as planned, how about _you_ say goodbye?" The figure closed the door on Danny and dashed over to the console nearest to the containment area. Danny stood up to get a better look at what the figure was doing.

White electricity began lapping at Danny's feet. He moved his right foot up, almost trying to get away from the floor as if it was the source of the electricity. It began to move up his legs as two tight rings. Danny could feel more hair erupting from his skin as the rings rushed past. He looked down at his foot and noticed that he only had four toes, each covered in fur and with a large claw protruding from the end. He could feel something tapping his back. He looked over his shoulder and noticed a tail that joined to a low part on his back.

-----

"DANNY!" Tucker jumped up frantically. A low buzz came through to his end of the Fenton Phone Connection, signalling that Danny's end was out of commission. Tucker proceeded to look around his room for something - anything - that could help him out.

His white, battery powered scooter gathered dust in a corner of his room. The helmet hung limply on the handlebars by its strap. Tucker raced to the corner and snatched the scooter up without a second thought. Once outside, Tucker hopped on to the scooter and raced to his friend's aid.


End file.
